Panel 41: Gender and Justice

Chair: Pavithra Rajendran, University of Notre Dame

Panelists

Tasnia Symoom, University of Kentucky, “Exploring Intergroup Dynamics in Attitudes Towards Gender-Based Violence: A South Asian Perspective”

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a persistent social issue reflecting deep-rooted societal problems extending beyond interpersonal dynamics. This study explores the complex relationship between religion, politics, and gender in shaping attitudes toward violence against women (VAW) in South Asia. Drawing from a survey experiment conducted in Bangladesh (n=698), the study examines how intergroup biases affect support for punishing perpetrators and the propensity for victim blaming.

Findings show that individuals associated with religious or political groups are inclined to prioritize in-group interests, demonstrating heightened acceptance of VAW when perpetrated by an in-group member. The research highlights nuances in attitudes based on the identities of perpetrators and victims, elucidating protective tendencies towards in-group women victimized by strangers but limited concern for victims of in-group domestic violence.

Furthermore, the study delves into contextual factors, such as perpetrators’ or victims’ deviation from social norms, uncovering the “Black Sheep Effect,” wherein support for punitive actions increases against perpetrators violating social norms. Similarly, non-conforming women may receive diminished sympathy due to discord with social norms.

This research not only addresses analytical gaps in existing literature but also enriches scholarly understanding of VAW attitudes by testing intergroup behavior theories within the unique socio-cultural setting of South Asia. It underlines the need for nuanced policy interventions that account for the complex interplay of group dynamics in combating GBV.

Hira Noor, University of Notre Dame, “Education and Changing Violence-Justifying Attitudes of Men and Women in Patriarchy: New Empirical Evidence from Punjab, Pakistan”

Violence-justifying-attitudes constitute sticky gender norms and provide a premise for violence-against-women, perpetuate gender inequalities and disrupt social justice. The situation is even worse in Pakistan where patriarchy constitutes complex power-hierarchies and necessitates violence for its existence, male dominance and subjugation of women to men. Such patriarchal violence or male violence-against-women (Kaufman, 2023) is pervasive in Punjab, which has high population but low literacy rate. Society follows men’s perception of ‚‘treating a woman’, despite rights and laws for women-protection. There is social acceptance of comprised women’s evaluation and inferior status relative to men. These violence-justifying-attitudes hinder interventions to curb male violence-against-women. Education has the tendency to shift societal norms as observed in India (UN,ADB,UNDP, 2019). In Pakistan, despite high rates of illiteracy and Violence-against-women, no earlier empirical evidence on the correlation between the two exists. The present study thus examines if and how Education affects Violence Justifying attitudes of both women and men in a patriarchal setup and further bifurcates rural and urban population, and captures the spatial intersectionality of marginalization. Our sample of married women comes from Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey of Punjab province in Pakistan. Interestingly, our preliminary evidence points towards less significant relationship between women’s education and violence-justifying-attitudes signaling toward inter-generationally passed on, deep-rooted and embedded gender social norms. Empirical findings may allow us to understand the complex nature of the relationship between education and violence-justifying-attitudes. It may also provide micro and macro level interventions to manage harmful (pro-violence) gendered social norms and catalyze social justice.

Ami Kitada, University of Kansas, “Productivity over Menstrual Justice: Reinforcement of Neoliberal Self-care through the Japanese Government’s Promotion of Femtech”

Femtetch, or the technologies that help manage women’s reproductive health issues, have rapidly developed in the 2020s. Along with the advantages that these technologies bring, they can serve as temporary solutions for gender inequality in the workplace without offering any long-term resolutions and instead reinforce epistemic injustice. This paper will examine Femtech discourses and promotion strategies in Japan, where Femtech is implemented through various government policies. For instance, in 2020, the Japanese government established the Union for Femtech Promotion and has been funding the Femtech demonstration project, collaborating with various companies to improve gender equality in the workplace since 2021. Thus, Femtech promotion in Japan is inseparable from the Basic Policy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, introduced by the Japanese government in 2015. In this paper, I will demonstrate how the Japanese government’s Femtech promotion strategies marginalize menstruators in various ways. These strategies have several effects: the reinforcing of male dominance in managerial positions; the limiting/restricting of the Femtech target audience to cisgender, heterosexual office-working women with sufficient financial means to afford the technologies and services; and the reinforcing of epistemic injustice whereby menstruators’ bodies are subjected to numerical measurements for the sake of productivity, among others. Analyzing the case study of Japan’s Femtech discourses and promotion strategies, this paper aims to shed light on issues related to gynocolonialism and neoliberal government policies more broadly.

Pavithra Rajendran, University of Notre Dame, “Societal Stigmatization of Survivors of Sexual Crimes and the Response of the Law: A Spotlight on India”

In March 2024, a tragic gang rape incident involving a foreign tourist, a vlog blogger traveling with her husband on a road trip to Nepal, shocked West Bengal, India. Instead of receiving support, she was unjustly treated as a ‘wrongdoer’ post-assault. Elsa Marie D’Silva, founder of the Red Dot Foundation, rightly emphasized the urgent need for a shift in societal perceptions to support survivors, rather than blaming them. Despite legal reforms in 2013 aimed at addressing sexual assault crimes in India, survivors like the vlog blogger continue to face daunting obstacles, notably societal stigmatization.

This paper delves into societal stigmatization as a significant barrier to seeking justice, exploring victim-blaming, male privilege, social isolation, media sensationalism, and family ostracization. It assesses the efficacy of the 2013 legal amendment and proposes recommendations, particularly for law enforcement, to empower survivors within the criminal justice system of India. Drawing from real-life examples in India and international human rights frameworks, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the paper advocates for a rights-based approach.

Combining doctrinal analysis with qualitative case studies, this paper seeks to dismantle social stigmas and facilitate survivors’ access to justice. By advocating for systemic change and highlighting the importance of societal attitudes, it aims to pave the way for a more supportive environment for survivors of sexual crimes in India and beyond.